Reds redistributes Nick Senzel to Minor League Camp

De Reds announced a lot of players who have been transferred to smaller league match Friday, headed Nick Senzel . Cincinnati's decision to do so has led to a response from Senzel's agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, who spoke hard of the organisation's decision on ESPN's Jeff Passan ( Twitter link ).

"I don't think I" I've ever published opinions on this issue in my career, "said Wolfe, ", but I feel compelled to do so in this case where it feels like a simple case of service-time manipulation. We are well aware of the mandate from Reds' ownership to win this year ̵

1; and it seems to be flying in the light of it. NL Central was decided by a game last year. Every game matters. This is a concise movement that can be sparse now, but can cost them expensive later. "

Red President of Base Ball Operations Dick Williams did not surprisingly report that C. Athenic Trent Rosecrans said the decision was not linked to the service time Twitter link ).

Reds & # 39; The Senzel Decision is at least more sound than some recent service-driven minor league tasks (eg Kris Bryant Eloy Jimenez Ronald Acuna ) Senzel learns a new position in the air after moving from infield to center field and injury limited him to only 44 games last year, while preventing him from taking place in the Arizona Fall League.

That said, Senzel is hit .308 / .300 / .462 with six doubles and four stolen bases in 39 springbird birds so far, and he beat .310 / .378 / .509 as a 22-year-old in his first exposure to Triple- A pitching last season.There is an argument that Senzel's bats is ready for big leagues, and the time of his campaign to the s Major leagues will be an interesting situation to monitor in the coming weeks. Redsne only needs to keep Senzel in minors for just over two weeks to secure an extra year with club control over 2016 no. 2 overall draft pick.

Whether the move is service-driven, Reds is well within their right to do so and may well be wise to do so. The fact that they hope to be more competitive and struggle for a posteason berth in 2019, as suggested by Wolfe, makes the muddy a little, and the reds will no doubt receive their share of the criticism if they call Senzel early in the season and narrow. misses the playoffs.

However, current service constraints were collectively negotiated long ago and were not addressed in the recent wave of league-MLBPA negotiations, maintaining a clumsy and outdated system that is a poor service to virtually any other party ownership. The game's best young players are often held down more than necessary, slowing their way to substantial earnings while fans are deprived of seeing rising stars on the game's biggest stage. Even in front of offices are left to make thin blurred and often transparent statements to their fans, knowing well they are setting themselves up to incur an angry backlash. It is an out-of-date mechanism that could better serve to be restructured, and it will probably be a focal point as the league and union begin preliminary discussions well in advance of the next wave of current CBA's expiry .

In other red news, Cincinnati skipper David Bell announced that the right hand Tyler Mahle will open the season as the team's fifth starts while Alex Wood heals from back pain that has afflicted him throughout spring ( Twitter link via Bobby Nightengale from Cincinnati Enquirer). Wood's injury is not expected to sideline him for a long time, so he may only be in line for a small handful of starts before he either switches to a trophy or returns to Triple-A to continue starting regularly.